Heated roller assemblies have been used for years to curl or "set" hair. Typically, a heated hair roller assembly includes a plurality of rollers disposed on a metallic heating platform that is heated via a power source, such as electricity. Most conventional assemblies include a housing and a cover attached thereto commonly via a hinge or the like. The cover of the assembly must be in a closed position to properly heat the rollers.
When the rollers have each been sufficiently heated, a user typically removes a roller from the assembly, engages a portion of hair onto the roller, and winds the roller around the hair until the roller is in contact with the user's head. At this point the user typically adheres a clip to the roller and hair wrapped thereon to maintain the position of the roller and hair. The process is repeated with a second roller of the assembly, a third roller, a fourth roller, and perhaps more depending upon how much hair is wrapped around each roller, until all portions of the user's hair are wrapped around one of the rollers. The heated rollers are left in the user's hair for an amount of time (e.g., 5-10 minutes) sufficient to curl the user's hair a desired way.
Each roller of the conventional heated hair roller assembly includes an outer portion and an inner portion, wherein the inner portion is typically made of metal, such as aluminum. The rollers reach the desired curling temperature, which ranges from about 90.degree. Celsius to about 115.degree. Celsius, in not less than 5 minutes.
In addition, most roller assemblies require the cover to be in a closed position during heating, otherwise the rollers are not heated properly, e.g., the rollers take too long to be heated to an adequate curling temperature or sometimes never even reach an adequate curling temperature.
Also, the rollers in the prior art roller assemblies cool rather quickly once they are removed from the heating platform, or source of heat, because of the materials used in constructing each roller. Specifically, the metals used to form the inner portions of the rollers do not retain heat well. As a result, when the rollers are removed from the heat and a user's hair is wrapped thereon, heat rapidly escapes from each roller, thus resulting in sometimes unsatisfactory hair curling.